How Do you Stop Dogs Digging?

OK so this isn't a dog, in fact it James. We went to my sister for my Dad's birthday and the boys raided their uncle's dress up box, and this was the result. Bergie 1 and punk rocker1.
GO SOUTH AFRICA!!



Of course when Chris saw the picture all he could comment on was, 'look at my skin!' Shame, he is battling the with curse of a teenager.

My dad seemed to have a great day out, but was exhausted by all the activity so spent a lot of the time sleeping in the chair, through all the noise of children playing.

Chris and James were playing with a ball and manged to kick it onto the roof of Ingrid's house, so as you can imagine, they did not need a lot of encouragement to climb up onto the roof to retrieve it, after the second time of 'accidentally' flying onto the roof, James also went up, much to my horror.


Little Geraldine was also with us for the afternoon and also got in on the dress up action.
Now anyone who has a solution for how to stop dogs digging is welcome to step in here anytime. As you can see we generally have a beautiful green lawn


AND THEN THERE'S THIS!!! The dogs are chasing something in the lawn and systematically trashing our garden.

On another front, we have put in an application to Wynberg Boys High School for Chris for next year. He feels that their sport is better there. The bizarre thing is we put the application in on Monday and by Tuesday 2 of his teachers said to him, so I believe you are going to Wynberg? Maybe they are worried he is leaving as he scored the 2 winning tries at his match against Westerford on Saturday.

This weekend could be a challenge though as Chris is playing Reddam and James Wynberg, at about the same time, at 2 different venues AND ROB IS AWAY, so not quite sure how I am going to split myself in 2 yet.

But before we can cross that bridge, we seriously have to do something about Christopher's school marks, got his report and were horrified by the drop in his marks. Serious buckling down required, along with extra maths and english - oh the joys, just more pressure on our already stressed time constraints during the week.

Tomorrow morning Gran is back from her VERY long stay in England. It is going to be great having her back. She and my mom are such wonderful support systems to me.

Poor old Rob is in Jhb (freezing his goolies off) this week, and on Friday leaves from there for Bangladesh again, so we don't get to see him till next week. Don't know how he does it, all this flying around.

SHEW!!

We finally got the desk from my dad and Chris spent some time sorting out his room. Long may that last, the plan is that all homework can now be done at the desk. The new rule this term is no TV until 5pm, PROVIDED that all homework is completed at that stage.
Chris also spent a week away with Gill's family, so James and I were left to fend for ourselves. James decided he wanted to do a puzzle, which I knew was a bad idea, because I am one of the puzzle builders that sits staring at the pieces telling myself I will go to bed when I find just one more, then its another one more and another . . .

So we manged finish the border and begin building pieces of the puzzle, which had by now taken us about 4 evenings. The following morning though we came through to find the bits we had joined together all over the floor. The CATS had jumped up on the table and slid across the table, taking the puzzle with it. Well that was the end of that, I packed it up and no more puzzle!

There are times I could just kill them, but then there are times like this. Tigger climbed into one of our drawers (where he feels safe), but poor little Mickey who wonders around like a lost fart without Gran here, jumped up to join him - how cute!!
Last Saturday night Rob decided that rather than cook dinner, he would take us all out to Den Anker for beer stew. Sadly it was not up to its usual standards, but we all still had a good evening out.


It was so exciting, my mom came back from being away for 6 weeks in England. It is sooooooo nice to have her back. Tomorrow (Sunday 26th) is my dad's birthday so we are all going for tea and cake with Ingrid. It all just become too much for him otherwise, so a short visit out from the home and then he can go back and rest.

It been the first week of back to school and we have all survived, but now it looks like Chris could be changing schools. Big decisions to be made this weekend.

Can't wait till Thursday when Gran comes home as well, not sure who will be more excited to have her home, Mickey or us?

Well its 6 days left for Miracle Kidz to find a new home and still nothing . . . its a weird feeling, but its that kind of surreal feeling, where there is no panic [hopefully that means my sub-conscience knows something is going to happen before then]

FEELING SO HOPELESS!!

It is the most frustrating feeling when you have to rely on other people to make things happen.

Miracle Kids - the safe house Rob and I are involved with (http://www.miraclekids.blogspot.com/) now have literally 14 days left to find new accommodation. There are a few of us moms that have been tirelessly trying to find new accommodation for Elsie and the kids, somewhere here in the southern suburbs.

The most perfect house is standing empty at the moment, but belongs to Provincial Government and do you think we can get an answer out of them? Its like holding onto someone over a cliff and gradually feeling them slip out of your hands. In March this year I was scouting around for a house and happened to stumble across this 4 bedroom house that has been empty for over a year - if you exclude the security guard Provincial Government have been paying to protect it from vandals. We have on 2 separate occasions put in an application for the house, but keep getting stonewalled about a decision.

If only we had the guts to either picket outside their offices, or better still just move Elsie and the kids into the house and claim squatters rights. But no, we wait . . .

I have tried every possible contact I can think of, from the local fish shop owner, right up to the Minister for Transport and Public Works (he is ultimately responsible for the decision - even thought its left up to his managers to decide).

Tonight I got a phone call from someone, who knows someone, who knows someone and they are going to see what the can do about securing us the house. Isn't that just life, its not what you know, its who you know.

We have people praying about this, as what we need at this stage IS a miracle, others are trawling the net and newspapers. We even have our local newspaper reporter trying to follow up on the story.

It's such a catch 22 situation. Miracle Kids don't ask for money, but what choice do they have if they have to rent a home big enough for the kids, that's going to cost about R7000 per month.

ANY SUGGESTIONS WELCOME - PLEASE strandmiraclekids@gmail.com

RAIN RAIN AND MORE RAIN

Its unbelievable how much rain has fallen today, in fact I don't think it has stopped raining once today. As I was sitting updating my blog, I suddenly heard water pouring and the gutters in our scullery. The gutters just simply could not cope and the water poured in over the the cupboards Rob had built, so we had a flat panic to clear gutters etc etc.

All this whilst Rob is desperately trying to finish a proposal for work.

Rob and I got soaked, out in the rain trying to get rid of some of the water down into the storm drains. It was over our ankles.

Just though I must show you a picture of the rain, it really just has not stopped here. even the cats are 'gat vol'

Nichola in Groote Schuur Hospital

Nichola (my severely mentally retarded sister) is now almost 42 years old (11 August 2009). She lives at Woodside Special Care Centre http://www.woodside.org.za/.

Thursday afternoon around 5pm I got a phone call from the home, telling me I needed to come through there as Nicky was having seizures and I needed to get her to hospital. I hit flat panic and phoned my brother, who said he would meet me there. When we got there (through rush hour traffic) Nicky was on the floor in her room, seizing, with everyone just looking down at her.

Morten and I with the help of the nurses manoeuvred Nicky into the back of my car and with Morten driving and me holding her in the recovery position 'flew' through to Groote Schuur. Poor Nicky, she had about 3 further seizures in the car, another as we arrived at the emergency and then again on the doctors bed. By the time poor Ingrid, who had been swimming, arrived, they had manged to stabilise Nicky and were holding her for observation.

So there we were the 3 siblings waiting patiently to hear 'what next'. Waiting in the reception area, along with all the other family members. In our rush to get Nicky into the emergency I was in my socks (taken off to climb into the boot of the car), so got a couple of stares walking aroung in my socks, also being the only white people there. I have to state thought that the service we got at Groote Schuur was excellent, other than long waits between functions, it was very good.

The doctors discovered that she had a urinary tract infection which could possibly have provoked the seizures. Nicky has not had a seizure since she was 8 years old.

After a long wait, we were told they were going to keep her overnight to monitor her. So we all went home at about 10pm, to be back again the following morning at 6am at shift change. With Nicky not being able to talk or understand what anyone is saying, we had to be sure that the new shift knew her history. Much as we told them this, you would still hear them saying [loudly, as though she was deaf] 'now Nichola, we are going to put a drip in your arm, lift it up and hold it still for me please [duhhhhhh - SHE DOESN'T UNDERSTAND YOU!!!!!]

Poor old Nicky, she was brilliant, she just lay in the bed banging her teeth together, when they took her for her CAT scan, we again told them the story and they said, yes that OK, they know how to deal with her. But again said to her 'now Nichola we are going to scan you brain, so you must lie very still and not move.' (&^%$#$%^*). We could hear them speaking outside the door and not 20 seconds later they came out and asked me to come in and help. Wanted to know if I was her mother - THE CHEEK!!. Anyways, got her settled and onto the trolley and they eventually taped her head down to keep it still.

After that it was back to the emergency ward, at this stage, Morten had managed to sneak us some Nando's chicken burgers and Kuawi Protein Shake for Nicky, as she had been drinking tons of water, but not really eating anything. Well she demolished that and Mom, she got that usual 'brain freeze' look on her face when she did it a bit too quickly. Finally she was checked into a ward, into a private room, so we only got out of there at 5pm, having been there since 6am. They are very strict about visiting hours and we were told we could only see her again between 3-4pm the following day. We phoned to check on her and were told she was fine, phoned again the morning, same story.

But when the 3 of us got there to visit Nicky, she was beside herself, completely agitated and angry. Just crying and moaning continuously. We took her for a walk down the passage and she literally ran away from us, trying to run down the passage, I think it was just 3 days of lying in the bed and she was fuming and frustrated and WANTED OUT!!!.

Nothing we did could calm her down, so we called for the doctor and decided that it would be best to check her out of the hospital and take her back to Woodside which we did. Nicky is like a baby, routine, routine, routine and of course all of that was out the window. Once we got her into the car, the movement of the car, the sound of the radio all calmed her down and by the time we got to Woodside, she was quite calm. When we left, she was back to her old self and yes I was in my socks again. In our rush we had forgotten to bring her shoes, so she put on mine. . .

Just had to share this beautiful photo (taken with my cell phone). I was standing outside getting some fresh air and this is what I looked out onto. The good Lord above really does look out for us all.

Thank you to Frances for helping me out with the boys once again and I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful brother and sisters, although we might not see each other all that often, in times of need we were all there together. Love you guys.

2nd week of holidays over

It's frightening how fast this year is flying past. I spoke to my mom this morning and she told me that on Wednesday its a week till she comes home. I can't believe the 5 weeks are almost up. Selfishly though I am glad, we are all missing her terribly, but it sounds like she's been having a ball and a WELL DESERVED rest.


Wednesday night when we got home, we saw Traffic parked at the end of our road, and speed traps right outside our house. Finally, Rob's complaints have paid off. But sod's law of course was the roads were dead quite, they only manged to catch 1 guy flying down our road, when stopped he said he was test driving the BMW and there were no signs to give the speed limit [DUH!! Residential area?]


We have now finally had the cracked windows and doors repaired, all done except for one window that they apparently need to have an entire new aluminium frame built for, but what can we do, it has to be done.


The kids went off to Ratanga Junction on Thursday with Gill and her family. It was so nice, because they both went, which meant I had the afternoon off for myself. (not prizes for guessing where I spent it).

Problem with Ratanga is it now become so expensive, R120 per child to gain entry (full rider ticket), but this excludes any food or drinks and you can't take your own in, so its not cheap, particularly when children normally want to do something different every day.


Chris and James decided to have a fondue at our house with a couple of their friends. They seem to have had a ball, but I did make them prepare and clean up afterwards, so it really was pretty easy.

Got Sarah coming round this evening to sleep over as poor Michelle is in for her operation tomorrow. She is having a gum graft (don't ask, will get the details) but it certainly sounds VERY painful.

It has not stopped raining her the whole day today, my heart goes out to those without a roof over their head (all except for Gillian and Clinton, the street people that took us for a ride)

Not the warmest outlook for the week either. . .

Sunday

15°C

Current: Light rain Wind: NW at 40 km/h Humidity: 94%

Sun 18° 10°
Mon 17° 8°
Tue 12° 8°
Wed 15° 11°

My Thesaurus Word for the Day - SERENDIPITY

Recently I have taken to looking up words I hear on the wonderful Mircrosoft Word Thesaurus Function (shift F7). Today I heard the word serendipity being used on the news.

Really not what I was expecting it to be, but here is the definition for SERENDIPITY

Chance (n.)

Fate

Destiny

Karma

Providence

Luck

Fortune

Coincidence

Accident

Kismet

Design (Antonym)

Hey Techno Gran (my husband's 82 year old granny), aren't you proud of me, soon you'll have me doing crosswords as well. Or Not!

9 kids and 4 adults

We certainly can pick them, we went away to Betty's Bay this weekend with the safe house kids, Frances and her kids and ourselves. Well any of you that are parents will know what a challenge that was. The first challenge was getting all the luggage into the house and finding somewhere to store it.

The first night we arrived, we spent a fair amount of time changing dirty nappies, running baths and generally unpacking.

Frances ran the bath for the little ones, but Liah one of the smallest, decided the bubbles in the bath were not enough and added some toilet paper, which we only noticed when the kids got into the bath . . .

During the bath routine, Frances and Elsie attempted to catch the mice that were resident in the bedroom I happened to be sleeping in. They managed to catch 5 mice (including the babies that were in the nest in the bottom drawer of the chest of drawers). Well needless to say I didn't get very much sleep as there was still at least one running around, so if you can picture the scene in the middle of the night, there I was sleeping with one eye open and when I heard the mouse, grabbed a blanked and swatted around the bed, just in case it decided to walk over us YUK YUK YUK.

Ingrid drove down and joined us for Saturday night, she too was not afraid of the mouse and dove into the cupboard where he was hiding to try and catch him, to no avail. Between Sarah, Chris and Ingrid they put down rat poison in the roof, as the next night it certainly wasn't a mouse scuttling around the roof (far too large). It was also nice for Ingrid to change some stinky nappies and bath Geraldine, good practice. Lets hope the whole fostering thing comes off.

The first night the mouse managed to escape out of the room, well I was crying I was laughing so much. Christopher, who had been standing in passage watching the goings on, saw the mouse come out and literally flew down the passage and lept up onto the kitchen counter (my big macho man - NOT!!!!!). He did redeem himself thought by making an awsome braai for us one evening.

Aside from the night time activities, we had the most glorious weather and went to the beach with the kids, where they all had an absolutely ball.

Elsie and the kids certainly seem to have enjoyed their weekend away. I had to return to town for a meeting, but Frances, Elsie and kids stayed on to clean up and will be motoring back later.

I also have to say how PROUD I am as a parent of my boys, they are such good children and seeing them help and interact with the kids, brings tears to my eyes.

Its always soooooooooooo nice to get away, its just the logistics of getting away when life is so hectic.

I got an sms from Rob who is in Bangladesh, he says sms's only this week, as its about R25 per minute to phone. He seems impressed with Bangladesh, particularly about how cheap things are, says he got peri peri chicken and chips and 2 x sprite in a restaurant for R21.00 - can you imagine?

He says he's battling with the time different thought, i.e. when its 4pm here, its 9pm there. He is going to suffer this weekend when he comes home, lots of sleeping will need to be done.

Ingrid and Geraldine

Is this not just too cute. Ingrid and Geraldine

HOLIDAYS!!!!!

HOORAY!!!! Its holidays, although I'm still working in the mornings, I am not swimming for the next 3 weeks, so can finally get rid of some of the chlorine smell that permanently lingers around after me.

It has been sooooooooooooooooo nice, having Rob home this week. It has meant that I could wake up, get ready and go to work, not having to worry about anyone or anything before I left. The evenings are also great, because most evening, Rob has cooked or organised supper, so I feel like I have already had 3 weeks off and its only been 5 days - how divine! An example of how divine is one afternoon I got a call to say I must meet Rob and the boys at a restaurant as we were all going for lunch. Even though it was only a local pizza joint, we could have been anywhere in the world on holiday, its so long since we as a family sat down in the middle of the day together.

Sadly he's off to Bangladesh this afternoon, and we are headed to Betty's Bay. Can't wait, its ages since I've been down with the boys, but logistically its just not been possible what with Rugby, swimming and general life commitments.

Should be a really fun weekend as Frances and her girls, as well as the Safe House kids are going. In total, 9 kids and 4 adults. In all of this there are only 3 boys, one of them is 3 and then there is Chris and James, my two grown up men. They are really great at stepping up to the plate and fulfilling the 'daddy' roll whilst Rob is out of town.

Last week, I had to open the office for a function held by one of the political parties for their local people. Well without being rude, the boxes of wine and the platters of food disappeared so fast into cooldrink bottles and lunch boxes, the function could have been over in 10 minutes. It was amazing to see these people drinking wine like a cooldrink on a hot summers day.

As a result a couple of us landed up outside the premises in the back yard, where we had a more upscale 'bergie' party with our own wine and bear and pizza whilst we waiting for them to finish.

Right time to go pack and get organised and let the weekend begin.